She decided to wear green tonight. She selected green underwear to match her forest green dress. It was annoying to her that she didn't own sexy underwear except for her one pushup bra. Of course she hadn't been planning on being intimate with anyone on this camping trip, so the lack of appropriate underwear wasn't really her fault. Still, Aaron had found ways to criticize her undergarments. He often made fun of the fact that she was in America's "one percent" and didn't own any decent underwear. All her panties were the cheapest money could buy. The same went for nearly all her bras. The pushup bra was a whopping ten dollars. She owned a couple of sports bras that offered extra support, and so were a little more "pricey" than the others, but that was it. The other criticism he often exacted against her was that she could always just not wear any underwear if she didn't have anything suitable...Elizabeth wasn't willing to go quite that far.
After a couple of hours of lounging, she decided to feed the dogs before making dinner. She fed them and then changed into her dress. Then she set about preparing a meal. They didn't have much in the way of groceries anymore, because they lived mostly off of blood and raw animal meat. But Lyle and Marnie still brought some food items when they returned from their regular, weekly trips off island. They had brought her some very delicious looking artichokes. I guess tonight's theme is green, she thought to herself. Green underwear, green dress, green food. Green is a fortunate color, she thought. It's peaceful; it's the color of prosperity. I think it's a sign everything is finally falling into place. Aaron and I will be together for a long time in this cabin with our white picket fence and our dogs. And I'll cook him dinner every night.
She was still boiling the artichokes and having domestic fantasies when Aaron came in...both early and unannounced. Though he was half Neanderthal, he never treated their dinner's with stereotypical Neanderthal behavior. He was punctual, often knocked, made light dinner talk, and ate with a fork and knife. This barging in was all new.
"Elizabeth," he said. He looked distraught. She had never seen him upset like this. "I'm sorry. I'm going to be direct with you. That's the only way to do this. Arthur is here on the island. He was attacked and very seriously injured. I'm not sure if he's going to make it."
Chapter 17: Whoever Did This...
Joe had found Arthur's smashed, mutilated body on the rocks below the steep cliff to Aaron's. While Joe was not supposed to hunt on Aaron's lands, it wasn't uncommon for him to surface from the water at night, take a break along the beach, and dive back in. Kyla was the same way. As she and Joe both frequently morphed into sea creatures, they felt like the sandy beaches were part of their general ocean turf. Aaron had only begrudgingly okayed this practice of recognizing the beaches as part of the ocean. If it had been any other vampires, he would have forcefully protested it. He couldn't trust any other vampires, besides Joe and Kyla, not to hurt Elizabeth.
Aaron had grabbed Elizabeth's throwing knives from her bureau drawer and handed them to her. Though they were useless, the other vampires on the island were not aware of this fact. He thought she would appear more intimidating with them strapped to her leg. Elizabeth changed out of her dress and into hunting clothes but almost didn't strap on the knives. However, Aaron insisted. That last dream she had, where she was holding the bloody throwing knife, still haunted her. She didn't know how to tell Aaron about the dreams because it scared her to even acknowledge them mentally let alone aloud.
Once Elizabeth was strapped with the knives, he took her to Kyla's cabin on the other side of the island. It looked like almost every bone in Arthur's body was smashed. No one had any clue how he had gotten like that. Joe hadn't seen a boat anywhere in sight when he found the body. There were more questions than answers, but realizing how dire the situation was, he had taken him immediately to the nearest shelter: Kyla's cabin. He laid him on Kyla's bed and began tending to him immediately. He and Kyla both bit large gashes in their wrists and let as much blood as possible flood Arthur's mouth. Aaron later told Elizabeth that vampire blood was thought to have healing properties for both humans and half vampires. Though he admitted that he had seen no evidence of it. Lyle and Marnie gently tried to wipe off as much dirt and blood from Arthur as they possibly could without jostling him. Then Joe had run off to fetch the other vampires and held a meeting at Kyla's.
Though Elizabeth had seen Joe once before, she had been too frightened of his giant fangs to get a good look at him. He was a Neanderthal in every sense of the word. His prognathism, the apelike jutting out of his jaw, was even more pronounced because of the large fangs his mouth had to sustain. The giant head had deeper brow ridges than any one of the half Neanderthals, and he had the bun that Aaron had described seeing in his father. He was also bow legged and bow armed, which caused him to move similarly to a chimp. However, he was still more upright than any ape. But for all this, she saw that he looked like a gentle soul. She could see it in his unusual, blood red eyes, and she understood how Aaron could come to trust this man.